Lakewood, N.J. - Trailing 8-2 after five-and-a-half innings, #18 Georgian Court University roared all the way back with seven unanswered tallies to steal a 9-8 Game One victory vs. visiting Mercy College Sunday afternoon in non-conference softball action. The Lions (36-5) kept the momentum going by securing the nightcap, 7-1, extending their winning streak to an incredible 19 straight.
Leading 2-1 after the initial inning of action, the Mavericks proceeded to plate seven unanswered runs of their own to go ahead by six entering the bottom of the sixth. Seemingly in a daze for a majority of the contest, the Lions snapped out of their trance by stunning Mercy with five runs on five hits and a pair of Maverick miscues to cut the deficit to 8-7.
Paige Eckert, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the first inning, started the comeback with a one-out solo homer (3rd of season) over the left-field foul pole. A
Kendalia Turner infield single and a
Caitlin Hughes sacrifice fly to right field brought home a run apiece before
Samantha Reilly creamed a two-run blast (13th of year) out to right-center to put the home team within one.
After keeping Mercy scoreless in the top of the seventh,
Eryka Springer and
Haley Jones led off the home half of the inning with successive hit-by-pitches. With runners on first and second, Eckert would again come up clutch as the junior transfer smashed a liner to the gap in left-center, bringing home a pair of pinch-runners with the tying and winning runs.
Mikayla Gilgert, the last of four GCU pitchers in the game, earned the win with one shutout inning of work (1 H, 1 BB, 2 K).
Jessica O'Neil started and took a no-decision, yielding four runs (1 ER) on seven hits (0 BB) over 4.1 innings (4 K).
Kaylee Stevens (3-8) suffered the setback for Mercy (6.0 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 10 K).
The Mavericks (20-20) opened the second showdown with an immediate 1-0 advantage in the top of the first, which the Lions erased in the bottom of the second, courtesy of a suicide squeeze bunt hit off the bat of Hughes. Georgian Court took the lead for good in the home half of the fifth when
Samantha Solomon walloped a solo drive over the left-field wall (fourth of year).
GCU poured it on with five runs in the sixth, thanks to three hits, two Mercy errors, and a steal of home.
Marissa Trezza led off the inning with a walk, before Springer sent out her eighth long ball of the year (in just her 76th at-bat of the year) to make the score 4-1 Lions. Hughes (double) and Salomon (single) went on to provide two-out strokes later in the inning while Turner scooted across with the seventh run of the game, courtesy of the aforementioned stolen base.
Gilgert, in her second appearance of the afternoon for the Lions, went the distance in the circle to improve to a team-best 15-3 on the season (7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 K).
Katelyn Shephard dropped to 5-4 after the Mercy loss (6.0 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 6 BB, 3 K).
The Lions now gear up for Tuesday when they visit the reigning CACC champions, Caldwell University, at 2:30 p.m. for a colossal CACC twin-bill.
